Group Looks To Bring First Delivered Lear Jet Into Flying Condition | Aviation International News

Bringing Lear 003 Back To Flight

Lear Jet preservation group vying to restore first-delivered Learjet

Lear 23-003, N2007, at delivery (Photo: Classic Learjet Foundation) — Lear 23-003 returned to Wichita nearly 60 years after it was first delivered. The Classic Learjet Foundation has embarked on a journey to return it to flight. (Photo: Classic Learjet Foundation)

By Curt Epstein • Business Aviation Services Editor

September 5, 2023

It can certainly be argued that the Learjet is the progenitor of today’s multi-billion-dollar business aviation industry. When the first of the sleek, speedy Lear 23s was delivered in 1964, it immediately gained acceptance from celebrities and captains of industry alike and established a market for private jet aviation, elevating the name Lear Jet into the public lexicon as an icon of new travel freedom and privilege.

Lear 23-003—the first of the type to be delivered—has now found its way back to its Wichita birthplace, where an ambitious program to return it to flight status has begun. At the same time, it is in the process of being acquired by the Classic Learjet Foundation (CLF), a non-profit organization founded by former and current industry employees with the goal of restoring 003 to its condition when it was handed over in 1964.

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